Greatest Fighter Pilot Poll.

Douglas Bader...

Read the book "Reach for the Sky"........

I am in no way denigrating the superhuman efforts of all the men and woman mentioned but for every one mentioned there are countless others who deserved praise for their efforts but whose names are lost to history and doubtless all the brave deeds mentioned were done by others. for just one instance Sir Douglas Bader was not the only pilot in the RAF who lost both legs and went on to fly and fight. his book is titled Best foot farward , an exellent read .any man or woman who straps on a combat aircraft and goes to war not knowing if that day will be their last is a great person and deserves to be called a hero...Gregers

I'll have to go with Naplak on this one. In fact, I just finished reading his book. It's a funny thing, everyone at my school is talking about the new Harry Potter book. All I tell them is: "You want to see some real magic? read this book(reach for the sky) and you'll find some real magicians!!!"

Although there is still a place in my heart for Gabby Gabreski and Sailor Malan. And who could forget Screwball Beurling........

Lancaster_lover

Bandit's!!! 12 O'Clock high!!!

CHUCK YEAGER... May not have had as many kills as others, but was nothing
short of a genius with a P51 (or whatever else he strapped on), and is still flying
on his 80th birthday... Who else can lay claim to that??

Cheers

I would have to say Chuck Yeager also. My second choice would be Duke Cunningham.

Hi Everyone,

Noticed no one mentioned Robert Stanford Tuck, one of the most charismatic fighter pilots there ever was. Shot down 6 times and jumped right back in except the last time when he was captured and met up with Douglas Bader in Colditz late in the war.

I was lucky enough to meet Thelma Bader (Douglas's Wife)back in 1993, at North Weald Airshow. Not many people know that Douglas, fought the battle of limb loss to the end of his days, helping everyone he could come to terms with it. Thelma carries on that cause in his name.

To me Douglas wins the prize, because he gave his whole life to others even after the flying war was won.

Lo everyone
Hey! We've just got army guys & Brits here! How about Cmd.Dave McCampbell USN? I Mean how many pilots have shot down 9 enemy planes in one mission?

Unless I missed him mentioned, Werner Molders with his 115 kills certainally deserves mention. He also developed the 'finger four' formation used by the Germans and the RAF. He died after only 2 years of war. Also, Saburo Sakai deserves some credit surviving the war in an obsolete airplane while managing 68 kills.

Tough choice. The wingman that kept the ace alive? The guy that stuck with a damaged bomber until his tanks were nearly dry? How about the guy that circled his downed buddy's raft until a dumbo arrived and then ran out of fuel and ditched beside the dumbo? Maybe the OS2U Kingfisher (yeah I know it's not a fighter) pilot that picked up so many downed aviators in Truk lagoon that his tailplanes were in the water and he had to taxi through the Pacific to a sub to unload so he could take off.

I'm a Robert S Johnson man myself. I've got a text book from miramar top gun school and the author quotes him over and over again. Johnson wqas one of the most natural fighter pilots that ever lived, his instincts were perfect. In a mock fight one time he beat a higher spit 9 in his jug, stunned the hell out of the spit pilot in the process. Johnson had a higher kill ratio per his first 100 missions than Galland and a couple of the other big time german aces, whose specific names I can't remember just now :) A huge huge impact he had was training the new guys and educating them on SA and tactics, so his true impact is literally immeasureable.

I also like Joe Foss an awful lot. Gotta love a great USMC pilot and a CMH winner to boot.

Saboro Sakai was a fantastic Nipponese pilot as well.

maddafinga

I have my favorites...but, I have to agree with gregers and claymore on this. Anybody who took to the air deserves to have the recognition for what they have done...high, low, or no kills. They went up to do a job, whether that job was escort (strafing runs, bombing, recon, ferrying, etc...) that is a big task to put your life on the line every day. This also goes for any military personnel who answered the call. Possibly a better title for these posts would be..."who is your favorite...and why?". No offense anybody...there are a lot of accolades to be given out.

Jerry

I was glad to see that at least one other person mentioned Capt. David McCampbell. Ever since I've read about his exploits in the Marianas and heroism over Leyte Gulf I've greatly admired him. A 1/32 scale Hasegawa F6F is going to be built up in his markings.

Lietch (Andy),
I actually did mention Tuck's name, read both his and Baders bio
" Fly for Your Life" (Tuck) and "Reach for the Sky" (Bader). Tucks I read first back in my glory days of high school (many moons ago) and I still have the copy after all these years, His bio is what got me going on flying and read many other bios after word, American, German, Japanese.
I didn't place him in my No#1, but it was hard for me to choose Tuck or Blakeslee. I am glad to see that someone did, it would be ashame if R.S. Tuck had not shown up in the spot.

Well, I know it ain't me!






Fade to Black...

Lo everyone,
I don't know if I would call him the greatest fighter pilot, but for pure enthusiasm Robert L. Scott would have to get my vote.
Later, Mike
'It's the guy you don't see who's most likely to cream you'
Tom Blackburn

What game is that screen shot from?


maddafinga

All great answers but no fighter pilot flies and fights alone for very long. As my own Viet Nam experience proved, a lot has to do with luck... not getting drilled by the "golden bee bee" good team work and luck. I must put in a mention for Joe Foss... 26 in an inferior crate at Guadelcanal and sick all the time to boot. COndiser Jack Bolt... a Blacksheep ace in Korea as well. Check Six! Razor

Maddafinga,

They're from IL-2 Sturmovik, the sim that made me clean out the hard drive and ditch everything else. Although MS CFS3 doesn't look too bad...


Fade to Black...

I put a plug for Foss in a bit ago, great man. Lets also not forget Randy "Duke" Cunningham, another great pilot, i have some video of a nasty fight he and his wing got in with a whole nest of migs, he made ace that day.

I haven't played IL-2, but that screen looks good. I'm somewhat afraid that after years of playing online sims against real people, the computer ai is simply not very challenging. I do have a great stick/throttle/rudderpedals setup though, i might need to hook it all back up. Playing against real people is way more intense, give Aces High a shot sometime.

madda

Blackwolfscd,
Is that you going down in a Yakovlev?

Looks like a Yak9 to me, not as bad a plane as most people think really. Yaks and Mustangs got into it by accident once during ww2, neat story.


madda

Claymore,

Yeah, that's BlackWolfski headin' towards the deep six in the Black Sea.

The flight report for Sgt BlackWolfski reads as follows:

Spotting the fascist invaders to my left over the Crimea Penninsula, I ordered the formation to watch for fighters. Off in the distance to the right, I could see another unidentified formation of aircraft.

I engaged the oncoming enemy escort without result and broke through to the bombing force, climbing for a height advantage. After maneuvering into a favourable position, I dove on the fascists and proceeded to knock one of them out of the sky with machine gun fire.

Comrade Petrenko, who had shot down a Bf 109 in a head on pass, was also victorious over a Ju 88. It exploded in a brightly flaming mass of burning flame. However, he was so close that he flew right through the debris and fire, damaging his aircraft. Comrade Petrenko jumped from his plane but I did not observe his parachute to open. Comrade Petrenko died a glorious death in the defense of the Motherland. He will be mourned.

Having encountered the escort yet again, a friendly formation appeared and took over the fight. (The unidentified aircraft from earlier?) I cleared my tail and once again, full of rage at the loss of my close friend and comrade, headed toward the bombers; lining up on a target at about 100 yards I fired, but only a few rounds were expended. I had exhausted most of my ammunition on the escort!

I looked around the sky one more time to see if any of my comrades were near, but there were none. Being alone, I decided to ram one of the fascist invaders and, once again, do my part to defend the Motherland.

The impact was terrific, but I remember little of it. I only recall the horizon spinning wildly and thinking that I must exit this runaway crate.

I was able to abandon my stricken aircraft, my parachute opening only seconds before I came down in the Black Sea. I woke up on a launch and was taken to shore where I was able to gain transport back to the airfield.


Fade to Black...

OH!

Maddafinga,

It was a Yak-7, by the way. Not that great a mount for taking on 109's but it'll do for bombers!

And funny you mention the Mustangs and Yaks tangling, I'm doing a bit of research on that right now! March 18th, 1945 was the date and the P-51's involved were from the 359th FG. I've got info on two of the aircraft involved, and am still digging. Small world...


Fade to Black...

Ah, I was close, the 9 is a better mount, but for the Ruskie stuff, I prefer the La5 or 7, great cockpit vis, great cannons, fast, handle well and keep their e beautifully. I remember reading about the ponies and yaks getting into it, but not much in specific, great story though, not many allied craft fought each other. If I remember right, the ponies came out in much better shape. I might have to look some of that up myself, just to bone up on my history. Good stuff.

madda

Yak 7 and 9 were very similar, in fact the 9 was an improved 7 but basically the same airframe.

You should be able to take a 109 without any real problem with the yak actually. It would help to have an idea about which model you're up against, but it's not a critical thing. Go straight head to head on the merge, but dive to pick up speed, you want at least 300 mph as you close. Start a lead loop, timing is critical here, you want to be just about vertical as the two of you pass. The yak bleeds it's e so badly that you can loop faster than just about any other plane, but you're only using an immelman here, if you time it right, you will merge directly onto his 6. If he sees you and maneuvers, you have just enough speed to double immel, as you drop back down from the second, just roll onto his 6, you can roll faster than he can turn. If he tried to follow you up, and you dove into the merge like you should have, he'll be stalling, or close to stalling and easy meat. It's all about the e. If you want to get really serious, read "Fighter combat: tactics and maneuvers" by Robert Shaw. It's a textbook they use at Miramar, it reads like stereo instructions, but it's the real deal. Ironically, he quotes Robert Johnson and Randy Cunningham an awful lot in the book. It covers everything, guns to guns, guns to missiles, missiles to missiles, props, jets, heilos, everything.

madda

You mean this one?



Read it cover to cover when I was a young'n and really into flight sims. Didn't understand it too well then, but it's funny how stuff like that sticks in your head and you can decipher it later. Maybe I should read it again!


Fade to Black...

Baron Freiherr Manfred Albrecht von Richothen.....


He didn't make pizzas or fight Snoopy, he kicked butt...80 times !

HAH! That's the very one. I have it in my bookshelf this very moment. A wealth of knowledge in there, when I was reading it, I remember thinking "I wish I had a couple of models to work this out, my hands only rotate so far" I gotta start playing sims again.

madda